Hillside Girls High School - 1st Feb 2011

So the day finally arrived and it was time to take my girls to school... As planned we got up very early to ensure all was ready in time. We were quite lucky actually as a friend of Juliet offered to take us in his taxi - which is quite a thing because the school is quite far away (over 1 hr drive - and on a matatu much much longer) and we had 2 big metal boxes and 2 buckets to carry...

My girls are ready for school :)

We still needed to take a bus first and I was quite surprised to see the girls falling asleep (I mean I know we hardly slept for 2 nights running but it was 1st day in high school so the curiosity and excitement should have kept them awake...;) but when we met with the taxi driver - Tony and set off for Kiambu all of a sudden they became much more energetic and kept looking out the window curiously.

Daniel helping Juliet to carry her box

Before getting to our destination we stopped at the nearest town and I bought them some sweets, salt, sugar, peanut butter etc... so they could have some treats in the next 2 months :) I really hope the matron allowed them to keep it.

We arrived at the school and completed the formalities - I was very worried as we have not paid anything towards the fees, we only had enough money to pay for the uniforms... The director however was fine with that as she knew we were really struggling but we had to promise to pay at least part of the outstanding amount soon.

On the way to school - very excited :)

After that it was time to say good bye to the girls who were met by the Form 4 students to help them carry their boxes and to show them to the dorms... The girls were really sad to see us go and Juliet didn't want to let go of me - she didn't cry though which was great as otherwise I would have probably started too ;)

I really wanted to take a photo of my girls in their new uniforms but the skirts were too big for them and needed to be adjusted to the right size... Hopefully I will be able to go and visit them and take some photos then...

Eveline & Juliet were welcomed at their new school by Form 4 girls

So now I am on my own - it seems really strange - for the first time I had nobody waiting for me at the bus stage and was walking home alone... Even the guys selling cakes etc along the way were asking me if I took the girls to school and that's why I was alone...

I still have a task of getting the fees - which adds up to £300 for 1st term (for both of them) and I also need to find some funds for a boarding school for Hamza - Juliet's brother, who was also staying with us... I am going to visit a school next week and I was told that the fees for that particular primary school is just £60 for whole year (on top of that he will need some personal items & uniform, just like the girls) so the expense is much lower as it is primary school not a secondary one... I believe that a boarding school would be good for him and he is very excited about this. In the meantime I am arranging for him to go to a day school) as I dont want him to just sit at home while he could be studying.

If any of you are able to help with my quest to educate my 3 children, please do get in touch with me, we are really struggling at the moment...

Me and my two daughters :)